The only nice thing about the crowds is that the salespeople in the store are too busy to bother her while Lulu swipes a thick fingerful of La Mer from one of the sample jars she normally doesn’t touch—all those germs. She taps on Tom Ford bronzer to give her the glow her mom was looking for, and makes her eyelashes thick and full with Dior mascara. Lulu builds her face into something pretty and expensive in a series of tiny, hot-lit mirrors.

She expected some sort of hunger to come over her once she was here—usually she loves to shop—but there’s no magic in the bottles and brushes today: just her sad face and its bright mask. Lulu rubs it all off again before she leaves the store.

She heads upstairs to the food court to get a snack before she goes, in the hope that she’ll honestly be able to tell her mom that she isn’t hungry for dinner later.

“Lulu!”

Lulu hears her own name and whirls around, too surprised to pretend she’s not startled. Before she even really understands what’s happening, Molly Ketchum is flying at her, a blur of blond hair and enthusiasm, yelping, “Oh my god I was just talking about you! How are you? It’s been so much drama!”

“Hey,” Lulu says. “Yeah, huh. Drama.”

Molly lets Lulu go, but she stays close and tilts their heads together conspiratorially. “Kiley won’t say anything,” she reports. “I have questions, and she’s being all secretive, and I’m like, Kiley, Lulu and I have been friends forever, I think I can know what’s up.” She rolls her eyes.

Molly and Lulu have known each other forever—their moms met in some parent-and-me singalong group when they were babies. And they are friends, technically, though sometimes Lulu feels like that’s mostly so Molly can keep pumping Lulu for gossip.

“What do you want to know?” Lulu asks.

“Everything! You’ve been so mysterious. Are you and Ryan planning another show? Is that why you took your Flash down? Are you and that girl dating now? Or are you dating Ryan? Because I’ve heard it both ways.”

“I’m not dating anyone,” Lulu says.

“Oh my god, this is why you can’t listen to gossip. KILEY!” Molly calls to a group of girls who are sitting on a bench eating froyo. Kiley separates herself from the pack and comes over to them. Has she possibly gotten taller since the last time Lulu saw her? She looks lankier than ever, just, like, miles and miles of limbs.

“Lulu says she isn’t dating anyone. Which doesn’t seem like that big of a secret to me. So can you please tell Kiley there’s no need to be Fort Knox?” Molly asks.

“Actually,” Kiley says. “Can I talk to Lulu for a second?”